m_stiefvater is having a
end of the year book giveaway. The requirements for an entry include choosing a favorite post from her blog and talking about it in your own.
Normally I think this would be a hard choice but honestly it wasn't. There was one entry by
m_stiefvater that has stood out in my mind since she posted it back at the beginning of December. I think it stood out because so many budding writers have the questions she addresses in the entry.
So which entry is it?
A Proper Education, which addresses: Did you go to school for Creative Writing? Do you have to have a degree in writing to get published? Have you taken classes in writing? & Will you be my mentor?
There are a lot of rumors that surround the world of publishing, perhaps one of the biggest being that you have to go to school for Creative Writing to be published. This, as Stiefvater points out in her entry, is simply not true. Some do, but many don't. I'm glad she took the time to address these questions and did it in such a detailed way, it's extremely helpful for an aspiring writer.
I think my favorite part was at the end when she posted the picture of early writing and talked about how that was her education. People always say the way to master something is "practice, practice, practice!" and there is an extreme level of truth to that bit of advice. Very few have the Midas touch where every word they write is gold and for the majority the only way we will ever achieve that level of mastery is to practice. I know I have a drawer full of folders in my file cabinet that contains original and fandom writings that I will one day look back at and maybe pick up an old idea or say, "What the heck was I thinking?!"
All in all, I found the information in that post extremely helpful and I appreciate it when successful authors take the time to touch base with their fans.